Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Resolved Question

Upgrading from 32 to 64

by May 26, 2014 11:57PM PDT

Hello there,

Long story short, I wiped out my main hard drive to install x64 Windows 7, but when I select Custom in the Setup, select the partition, and click 'Next', I get "Setup was unable to use the existing system partition because it does not contain the required free space" and I have 150GB free.

Together with that, when I select the Upgrade option instead of the Custom, I get a message saying "The computer started using the Windows installation disc. Remove the installation disc and restart your computer so that Windows starts normally, then insert and Upgrade" I done this before I formatted and unfortunately I do not remember the message but it did not work.

Help?

Discussion is locked

Nultrix has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer
4 Posts
- Collapse + Expand Details

Best Answer

- Collapse -
And one additional point
by May 27, 2014 9:39AM PDT

And one additional point, is that based on the error you give, it's possible you just deleted the previous partition without creating a new one, so you may have 150GB of free space, but it's not allocated to a partition and so you're selecting a recovery partition which will not have sufficient free space.

- Collapse -
Answer
More details
by May 27, 2014 12:08AM PDT

To better understand what you really have, I suggest you get the pgm. GPARTED. Burn the .ISO file to disc and it should be a bootable disc. follow normall process to alllow 1st boot device be CD and then laod pgm. Once loaded it should dusplay all HD partitions, etc., and give you an idea what's happening to paritions and also correct or remove, play with them, save and exit of any changes. Then try to reload the Win 7 install disc. If it still gets hosed, I suggest you use the pgm. KILLDISK to totally wipe clean the HD. It appears you want to reload the 64-bit version then that maybe the best way excluding any other issues. I won't know what version of Win 7 you have, totally explain what you got, but that may be an issue as well. Also, you should do a full format, NOT a quick format just to say you did that.

Alas, make 100% sure you can install 64-bit version because non 64-bit capable cpus could be a cause of improper install. Again, no clue as to what PC setup you have. If you had 32-bit installed prior to you using old PC, then you maybe seeing why this is so.

tada -----Willy Happy

- Collapse -
Answer
Just to be clear.
by Forum moderator May 27, 2014 12:56AM PDT

There is no supported method to "upgrade" from 32 to 64 bit Windows so far. It's a clean install so what's on the drive is usually wiped out. When you are ready, re-read the note on GPARTED and then using that clean off the old partitions, and start with an empty drive. That usually works unless there's some reason or incompatibility.

As the 32 to 64 question is well done, I'll see how far you get.
Bob

- Collapse -
Answer
added to what Bob and Willy noted,
by May 27, 2014 3:11AM PDT

Something else maybe of important, what type of disc did you get, retail (upgrade/full) or OEM? Here's my experience about retail. If this is "retail" upgrade, I think you may be out of luck because I don't think it will let you do a "clean install", My experience was with Vista on this regard, but win7 maybe different (hope).

Back to Computer Help forum

CNET Forums

Operating Systems
Software
Electronics & Gadgets
Hardware
Tablets & Mobile Devices
General Help
Brand Forums
Roadshow Autos
Off Topic

Other Forums

Forum Info